


don't worry baby

by sk4di



Series: unlikely [5]
Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: F/F, Gen, I keep coming back I know I know, I literally became the meme hey devils its me ya boy, Kid Fic, Pre-Canon, Sickfic, The Rough PatchTM, but this is cute and it has been in my notes for a while just sitting there practically finished, bye and have a happy new year, so I added some details and here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sk4di/pseuds/sk4di
Summary: "This better not be a con," Debbie said, walking to the kid and feeling her forehead with her palm.(or the one in which Debbie has to deal with a sick Toni)
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Series: unlikely [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961611
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	don't worry baby

The weekends always brought a sense of peace to her, back then. It was when she would slow down and be at home, read a book, pay attention to the news, run a plan a hundred times in her head. Monday to Friday she had gallery affairs to attend, pieces to curate, meetings with buyers, papers to forge. But the weekends, they were just for her - and Toni.

Usually, Lou would drop Toni and her backpack every Saturday morning on the entryway of Debbie's building. The kid would spend the day around minding her own business, in that comfortable co-existence Debbie and her developed since she was a toddler. If they felt like they would take a walk in the park, have some ice cream, a nice dinner maybe - but pizza and spending the day in was also a clever option both of them enjoyed.

Toni arrived on a Friday evening that weekend, a cab took her there straight from school. Lou had a flight to Chicago early afternoon that day and shouldn't be back for a few days.

"There you are," Debbie said, looking over her shoulder as she heard the sound of sneakers behind her. "I thought you were kidnapped."

Honestly, it was a surprise that in wight years of this arrangement none of their business had got to Toni. No revenge, no blackmail, no threaten. It was, of course, result of all the care Debbie had around making Toni invisible to the world the live in. Though, it didn't mean she didn't worry everytime Toni was late or she lost sight of her on the supermarket. Who knows, they weren't the only ones who could do some research and find people's weak spots.

Toni was standing by her bedroom door, coat still on, backpack probably dropped somewhere undesirable on the living room. "Traffic."

"This damn city," Debbie mumbled, turning back to the mirror. "I bet you're hungry?"

"Why are you getting dressed up?" Toni asked, entering the bedroom, and kicking her Nikes out her feet.

"I have this gallery thing tonight," Debbie said. "Please take those shoes somewhere else, thank you."

Toni approached her and leaned on the dressing table, watching her closely. "What about me?" She squinted her eyes slightly.

Debbie finished applying her eyeshadows. "You are spending some quality time with Ursula."

"Who is Ursula?"

That was such a good question because she didn't know who Ursula was either. She had just mentioned to Claude how she had Toni on Friday, the same day of the opening of the new exhibition and he offered her Ursula as babysitter. She was an intern who had just started at the gallery, an art student of some sorts, Debbie wasn't sure and didn't really care; Ursula - not being neither a mark, neither a peer - was safe to keep Toni for an evening.

"Your sitter for the night," she said.

"Deb," Toni whined, resting her forehead against the woman's naked shoulder.

"Whining won't do a thing." She patted the back of the kid's head and got up. She picked up the blue cocktail dress she chose for the evening and put it on over her slip dress. "Here, give me a hand, kid."

Toni dragged her socked feet until she was standing behind Debbie. One hand held the base of the zipper while the other zipped it up, with expertise.

"Good girl," Debbie said and turned to her, placing one hand on top of her head and the other under her chin. "Got you pizza."

Toni twitched the corner of her mouth.

"What is it?" She asked, concerned over her unusual lack of interest in food, while she sat back on the chair to put on her high heels.

"Am I dining on my own?" Toni cocked an eyebrow.

Debbie sighed. "Are you really going to make me eat pizza in a Prada?" She asked, with an amused smirk.

She didn't mind it that much, to be honest, she had done much more undignified things in expensive clothes. So she sat on one of the stools of her edgy kitchen island while Toni sat on the island itself and they ate while the kid talked about whatever she was into that week - Greek mythology, what certainly had Lou's influence.

Ursula arrived soon after while Toni was taking a bath. She was a tall blonde young thing with large breasts and puppy eyes. Now she knew why Claude had hired her. She instructed the woman around and introduced her to a suspiciously looking Toni.

Toni and babysitters had a history. First, they were driven mad by her slack of sleep. Later, they couldn't get her to talk, she would simply ignore them until they went away. Then, they couldn't get her to shut up. It had been a while since they needed one, Debbie had no idea what Toni could turn up this time.

"Be nice to Ursula," Debbie said to Toni, putting on her coat on her way out.

"Don't be late," Toni said, following her, barefoot on the hardwood floor.

Debbie laughed, this damn kid. "Alright, mom. Are you going to complain about my clothes now?"

Toni gave her a throughout look and Debbie wanted to laugh at the idea of a nine-year-old in Pokemon pajamas judging her outfit. "No, you look like a goddess," she said with the half goofy half cocky smile that reminded her so much of Lou.

"No need to be a charmer," she said, ruffling the kid's short brown hair and leaving. "Goodnight, kiddo."

* * *

Her phone rings in the middle of the exhibition. It was almost a relief that she had a reason to leave the middle-aged guy talking non-stop about his last time in The Louvre.

"It's the sitter, I should take it," she said with a smile, leaving the hall to take the call.

Ursula told her, in a desperate voice, that Toni is not feeling alright, that she has a fever.

The exhibition wasn't being any fun, but it doesn't mean she wanted to leave. Toni was probably just making Ursula's night a terror on purpose by faking an illness, probably testing a new chapter in the history with babysitters.

"Are you sure she isn't heating up the thermometer under the bedside lamp?" Debbie asked with a smirk. "She does that sometimes it's very smart-" But Ursula told her Toni even puked and she understood that forcing puke was a little beyond the kid's commitment to trouble. "Alright. I'll be there in a few."

* * *

She went home as soon as she found Claude and made sure he would take care of the rest of the evening. She didn't trust he would do as well as she would, but she had to leave. That was the thing about having Lou as a partner; she never had to worry in that way. She reserved those thoughts for another time.

At home, she found Toni grumpily curled on the corner of her sofa with the duvet of her bed wrapped around her, and a neurotic Ursula pacing back and forth on her Persian rug. She didn't know what worried her more, the duvet getting puked, the rug getting ruined, or the child. No, the child, definitely the child. It had to be the child.

"This better not be a con," Debbie said, walking to the kid and feeling her forehead with her palm.

"I want mom," Toni said, sniffling.

Her eyes were red from tearing up, certainly from all the puking Ursula related to her over the phone and her glasses were nowhere to be seen. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was hard.

How does something like that happen? You leave the child just fine two hours ago and now she looks like she is about to die. That's the one thing Debbie never adapted to having a kid around - but before she always had Lou around to deal with that.

"Lou is not in town, you know that," Debbie said with a sigh, sitting beside her, a hand moving the sweat drenched bangs away from her forehead.

Her heart faltered as Toni shivered under the coolness of her touch.

"Call her, I want to talk to her," the kid said, her voice childish and lazy, so different from her usual precocious tone.

Debbie checked her watch. Lou would definitely be in the middle of something right now, she didn't want to be the one responsible if anything went wrong out there. "I can't right now. I'll call her later, alright?" She pulled the duvet back as she got up, extending a hand to the kid. "Let's go to you bedroom."

Toni winced with pain and curled up against the back of the sofa. "I can't walk."

"I carried her there from the bathroom," Ursula said. "She is so tiny."

"She is not tiny, she perfectly fine for her age," Debbie said, deffensively.

Toni was tiny, they even said and made fun of it themselves - Lou always said that at least for mice she was a threat; Tess was optimistic puberty would change that; Danny even called her Totiny. Between her classmates, she was the one that looked like she belonged with the previous grade. She was nine, but wore clothes made for seven-year-olds.

But Toni was their tiny city mouse, only they could say that. Ursula didn't have the right.

"Come here, let's get you into bed," Debbie said, extending her arms to pick Toni up.

As Toni wrapped her arms around her neck and legs around her waist, she felt the little body burning up against her. Not the usual warmness of Toni's hugs, but a real ongoing fever. She held her a little tighter, rocking her side to side, one hand rubbing her back. Their poor city mouse.

"I don't want to be alone," Toni mumbled against the side of her neck.

"You won't be alone," Debbie shushed against her hair.

"I don't want Ursula either," she whispered, stealing a quick glance at the blonde.

"I'll stay with you," she said in a soothing voice, keeping rocking Toni. "Come on, let's get you into bed." She started walking in the direction of her bedroom. "Have you noticed I'm still in heels and carrying you? Isn't that awesome of me?" She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Toni giggled sleepily against the curve of her neck. It felt like a small win.

* * *

She send Ursula away and tucked Toni in her own bed, proceeding to change out of her dress into one of her silky robes while the kid flipped quietly through the TV channels, still bundled up inside Debbie's duvet.

"If you need to throw up, tell me," Debbie said, removing her make up. "That duvet is more expensive than your entire school year."

Toni coughed. "Why don't you just send me to public school?" She asked, turning off the TV and rolling inside her cocoon to the edge of the bed, from where she could watch the woman by the dressing table.

It wasn't even a discussion where they would send Toni, her trust fund covered pretty much her entire education, from elementary school to college, in good enough institutions. Plus, it was fun lying in those private school interviews and watching how desperate some of them were in having "diversity" and "plurality" within their students - the whole orphan with two moms narrative got them thrilled to have Toni.

"Because you're too smart for them," Debbie said and it was also true. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. And hungry," Toni said in the same beat.

"Yeah, that happens when you puke out you dinner." Debbie turned on the chair to face her. "Any chance you'll just lay down and fall asleep any time soon?"

Toni blinked. "You said you were going to call mom."

"I will." She got up and felt the temperature of Toni's forehead with her palm again. "But first I'll get you something to eat. And medicine."

"I don't want to be alone."

"Don't be so needy, I'll be in the kitchen." Debbie arranged the duvet around her. "You can just yell and I'll listen."

Toni didn't look happy with the suggestion.

Maybe it was because Toni sulking was rare and, worst of all, cute, or maybe it was because she felt sorry the kid was sick.

"Okay." She said extending her arms again to pick up the kid again.

Toni was as warm as she was before, but it was way more comfortable to carry her weight now that she wasn't in high heels. She adjusted the kid in her arms and started making her way to the kitchen. "You're growing out of those perks very soon, I'm telling you."

* * *

After a light meal, taking the time the kid brushed her teeth to leave Lou a quick message.

"Toni is not feeling well, she's running a fever. It's a stomach bug or something. Call me when you get this message, she has been asking for you. She is fine, really, I'm handling it, but she wants you. That's it. Call me when you get the chance," is all she said.

She tucked Toni in her bed and made sure there was a trash can by her side and a glass of water. The duvet was still insanely expensive.

"All boxes checked," Debbie said, checking the thermometer she used on Toni. "It's going down. You're not hungry. You are very tired. You are going to let us have a very peaceful night, right?"

Toni gave her a half smirk. "I think so."

Debbie rolled her eyes and took the spot by her side on the bed. "I'll take that. Now, sleep, city mouse."

"What about mom?" Toni asked, turning on her side to face her.

"She'll call us, don't worry," Debbie told her, arranging the covers over the kid. "Get some sleep now."

She remembers watching Toni sleep as a toddler, not long after she realized this was going to be forever. Toni always slept face down on the pillow, button nose, chubby cheeks and her baby pursued lips shoved against the soft tissue. It used to drive her mad - quietly, though, because she was never the kind of person who freaked out openly. One day, they would wake up and find out the kid smothered herself to death in her sleep, she was sure. So everytime she had the chance, she would turn the small head to the side, carefully to not wake her up.

"She is not going to suffocate," Lou grumbled one morning, when Debbie thought her partner was still asleep.

They were all sharing a hotel bed somewhere by the beach in South Carolina, as they ran away from something she couldn't remember anymore.

Lou's voice was raspy from sleep, her baby blue eyes squinting with the light. She turned on her side to face Debbie, one hand coming to rest on the small of the back of the kid between them.

Debbie turned Toni's face sideways anyway, until she could see the small button nose and could be sure she could breathe. "How do you know?" She asked, defiant.

"Trust me," Lou said as she stretched her limbs, morning sun coming from the windows kissing her skin. She leaned in to kiss the top of the still asleep kid's head than the corner of Debbie's lips.

If it was anyone else, they would say "you may pretend you don't, but you worry too much, Debbie Ocean", but Lou didn't have to. She pulled back and gave Debbie a cocky smirk, the words all over her face. "Coffee?"

Toni didn't sleep like that anymore. She favoured now sleeping on her side, knuckles of one hand touching her lips, button nose visible and chest visibly rising with every breath.

It was calming instead of worrying. Debbie ran a hand over her pajama clad back, feeling suddenly very tired herself.

Her phone vibrated with a call just half an hour later, when she was about to fall asleep. Lou's name was on the screen. She took the call, sure disturbing Toni wouldn't be a problem, the kid could sleep through everything.

"How is she?" Is the first thing Lou asked over the phone.

"She fell asleep," Debbie said. She touched her palm to the kid's forehead, after pushing the bangs out of the way with a caress. "The fever is going down.

She heard Lou sigh.

"She was quiet this morning before school. I thought she was just trying to con her way into skipping it," Lou said, sounding vague.

"I thought it was the pizza we had for dinner," Debbie confessed.

Lou laughed quietly and suddenly there wasn't conversation anymore.

Over the last year, with the separate living arrangements and jobs, with lives so different from what they had before, with Toni back and forth between them, Debbie wondered if they had become one of those people that only exist in each others life because of a child. Did Lou get rid of all the reasons she loved Debbie for, all but having given her Toni?

"How's the job?" Debbie asked.

"Great. You'd hate it. It's not your style," Lou said. "I told Linus that, by the way."

"You're awful," Debbie said, fondly shaking her head. "You could've ruined the entire thing by getting into his head."

Lou scoffed. "That's the only way he can do a thing right, looking for approval."

Debbie smiled, content with the sustained conversation. She wanted to ask more, hear the plan in that detailed way only Lou could memorize, with the details people let slip, with her opinion disguised as fact among the steps. But something stopped her; keeping Lou at a certain distance was best for them, it made things easier. It was easier to not know what she was doing with her free time up there, to not know who Lou was when she was not around, to pretend Lou was a figment of her imagination that existed only when she had her eyes on her.

"How do you like Chicago?" She asked anyway, not ready to let go of Lou just yet. She was never one to take the easy road.

"It's too fucking cold-"

"Deb, is it mom?" Toni asked in a sleepy voice, pulling on her nightgown.

"Yes," Debbie answered. "Hold on, Lou, kid is awake, I'll put you on speaker."

She did as she said, placing the phone on the bed.

"Mom?" Toni got up on her elbows.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Lou asked, her voice suddenly changing into that soft tone that Toni's and Toni's only.

"I'm good now. I miss you," Toni answered, fidgeting with the fabric of Debbie's nightgown.

"I miss you too, honey," Lou said and Debbie knew she was smiling. "I'll be back soon."

"Tomorrow?"

Lou laughed again. "No, not tomorrow. In a couple of days I'll be there."

Toni twitched the corner of her mouth in that disappointed way. "Alright."

"Now go back to sleep, it's late," Lou told her. "I'll call you in the morning."

"Okay," Toni said with a yawn.

"Goodnight you," Lou said. "Sweet dreams, baby mine."

"Goodnight you," Toni answered, laying her head on Debbie's thigh. "Say goodnight to Debbie, she needs sleep too."

"Alright, I will," Lou said in the melted voice of hers.

Debbie put the phone back to her ear. "I wonder where does this bossy attitude come from." She arranged the covers over Toni.

"Do you?" Debbie was sure she was smirking. She paused. "I know the whole Friday thing was unexpected on you-"

"I'm the legal tutor, Lou, you don't have to apologize-" She stopped as she noticed Toni slipping back into sleep. "It's fine, really," she said in a quieter voice.

Lou paused again. "If you say so. Goodnight you."

Debbie smiled. "Goonight you."

"Call me if anything changes," Lou said.

"Your baby will be fully recovered when you come back, don't worry," Debbie said and waited for her to end the call.

She laid down facing Toni in the semi darkness, wondering if Lou knew, all those years ago when she came up with the decision of not letting the kid go, she was creating this common factor between them that would never go away - a safety net, a checkpoint. She couldn't decide if was better if she did or didn't. She fell asleep before clarity came, one arm unconciously wrapped around the kid, sure that, whatever Lou knew at that moment, she knew better.


End file.
